"THE ROYAL SUPREMACY."

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 1076, 26 April 1867, Page 5

"THE ROYAL SUPREMACY."

Using a Lecture on the above subject read at the rooms of the 1 ouiuj Mm's Christian Association, uluekland, March 15, 3.5G7, by 8. Kempthorne, J.l'., formerly Member of the First Legislative Council of 2?ew Zealand. My Christian Frionde, — It is tho general feeling of .Englishmen that loyalty to tho Queen, and submission and obedience to the law, aro the first of social and public duties. Tho doctrine of tlio Royal Supremacy is intimately and inseparably bound up in these two principles. But of late a strong party has arisen in our Church, led on and encouragod, I regret to say, by some in tho highest quarters, who desiro to throw doubt and discredit upon this doctrino in reference to ecclesiastical matters. For instance; wo havo seen an Archiopiscopal declaration that wo can " hold full communion" with a certain Episcopal Church in Scotland, which does not acknowledge this doctrino. Again: we have seen an Archbishop backed by some High Church laymen, denying the validity of the Queen'splotters patent, in a suit with tlio Bishop of Natal, in the High Court of Chancery. Wo havo soon an Episcopal circular enquiring whether our Bishops *' wish to continue to rcceive their mission from tho Archbishop of Canterbury ?" tho correctness of which statement bus been altogether questioned by alato judgment in tho Court ot Chancery. Tho same circular proposes as a question, "How far" tho lioyol Supremacy can bo maintained in the Colonies f which is as much as to question the 37th Article. We havo also seen a petition from Colonial Bishops laying claims to rights which aro not justified by law, resting upon declarations—tho fallacy of which havo been judicially declared—and upon what appear to be decidedly erroneous interpretations of important legal judgments;* pointing out, moreover, modes of action, and enunciating opinions which aro inconsistent with, if not derogatory, to her Majesty's Prerogative, and opposed to English law. It is our duty as Churchmen to understand and consider the drift of what is going on, or else we shall 1)6 getting unawares under a system of Ecclesiastical supremacy, from which Europe, after groaning under it for twelve centuries, is at length freeing herself. I beg your candid and patient attention to tho line of argument pursued in the following remarks, wherein it will be my object to show from history, the evils inherent in such a systom, and to show also tho remarkable firmness, prudence, discretion, and sound sense, which tho English nation evinced when it threw oil" this system at the Keformation, and established the supremacy of the monarch as part and parcel of the law of the land. I have consulted several able, sound judging fellowChurchmen on the whole subject. I believe they concur in tho views I have propounded. Tho opinions of our excellent Chief Justice, Sir Georgo Arney, and the judgment ascribed to the Right Honorablo Lord Westbury, corroborate these principles ; whilst the late, clear, and elaborate judgment of Lord Komilly, theMastsr of the Rolls, goes far to justify not only the principles, but the details. The strong and emphatic petition to the Queen, from the Bishop and Synod of Melbourne, tends earnestly the same way. THE LECTURF. The Hoyal Supremacy—popularly considered and defined,—the Keystone of our National polity in Church and State, tlie safeguard of our civil and religious liberties, the c msi-rvator of sound doctrine, the fundamental principle of the New Zealand Church Constitution, and the bond of connection with the Church of England ; the basis of civil union of all Protestants, not only for Churchmen, but for Nonconformists, holding the unity of tho Faith with us in all essential points, in a word, comi'kension without COMPROMISE. Section 1. JSer Majesty's declaration as to England's greatness. —The British Constitution, in Church and State, was formed oa tho Bible. Her Majesty the Queen, transmitted a splendidly bound Bible to tho African monarch, who had sent a message to enquire of her, " What was the secret of England's greatness ?" Her Majesty's reply was, "This, (tho Bible), is the secret of England's greatness!" If we were to speculate on the subject, what answer can we imagine would have been given to such a question by any of the other sovereigns of Europe ? France -would, perhaps have said, " Universal suffrage, the will of the people, the Empire is peace, Paris fortified, opinion restrained and kept down." Prussia would say, the needle gun, her well drilled Landwehr, universal education ; regarding, as of small moment, the practical infidelity of tho mass of the people, and the repressed opposition of the Commons to the arbitrary proceedings of the Monarch. Austria would have said, her military organization, the Quadrilateral of Mantua frowning over the fair plains ot Italy, and perhaps her concordat with the Pope. Russia, her vast empire, her autocracy, and the skill of her diplomatists ; while Italy, the fairest of kingdoms, the land of music and of arts, may now point to her emancipation from the tyranny of Ecclesiastical oppression of twelve centuries, leading, as we may hope, to our Queen's answer. As to Spain; on lately inaugurating the monument on the Cots wold hills in Gloucestershire, to William Tyndale. the martyr and first translator of the Bible (after Wycliffe), Earl Ducie diew a contrast between the effects of tho Bible, tlii)9 given to England and the Arrerican continent, about the same time given to Spain. England has constantly increased in intelligence, in power, in reputation, and in freedom; Spain, on the contrary, has been bereft ot her posessions, and has herself remained low, enslaved, and oppressed. 2, The Church of England has alwayß considered that it is the duty of a nation to support religion, and that such duty is clearly recognised and sanctioned in Scripture history, which was written for our learning. This . duty was universally acknowledged, till tho great outburst of freedom of opinion, to which the the Reformation of the 16th century and the invention of printing, gave birth; and then the fanatical sect of the Anabaptists cried down all authority. Many of our greatest Nonconformists thoroughly approved of the principle of our Established Church, as being a national witness to the truth of the Gospel in the land. That a contrary opinfon shou'd have been maintained and kept alive among their descendants, is owing partly to the f latical opinions which spread greatly in England, at the time of the Great Rebellion, and partly to tho harshness and severity practised against them, first by the arbitrary proceedings of the Star Chamber, and afterwards at the Restoration, by the High-church party, in framing and carrying out the Act of Uniformity ; there was doubtless fault on both sides. 3. When the Reformation took place, the nation never thought it right to forsake the duty of providing for the worship and acknowledgment of God, in it 3 national character. The opinions of the Keformers, —Lollards as they were called, from Lord < Cobham and Wycliffe downwards, were truly loyal— truly scriptural and truly national. The nation, with wonderful unanimity, adopted the re for me J. faith. The Constitution was framed on the Bible, and the Church was engrafted into it and established by law. No new Church was invented, no abrupt rejection of the ancient Church, as such: —No violent chan<*c3 were made, no new names even were given, as in tho Geneva and other Churches. The ancient Apostolio form was retained, simply purified from falao doctrine aud superstitious and unauthorised practices. Tho dross and corruption and errors, accumulated by the Ecclesiastical Supremacy of the dark middlo ages were swept away and all that was good was pre--1 served.

One simple, grand principle was avowed and held to as the touchstone of everything, by our reformers : viz. that Holy Scripture was the ultimate referee. According to our Gfch article, nothing -was considered necessary to be believod, which could not be proved by Scripture. We must not forget, nor Bliould our Nonconformist fellow-countrymen over forget, that our Articles, Prayer Book and Homilies were framed by our martyred J-'eformera, who with admirable courage, fidelity and self devotion, sealed thoir testimony even in the violence of the fire. Lord Cobhain, Ixidlcy, Latimer, Hooper, Crunmer, " the virtuous C'ranmer," and many, many others :—What do we not owe to these mighty worthies! 4. But there was one point, apparently a matter of only civil right, one cardinal change was made, and that was that the Supremacy, hitherto usurped by the Pope over all the Kings of the earth, was re-

jocted; and tho Supromacy of tho British monarchs was established over all ostates, Ecclesiastical and civil, in all their own dominions ; regarding them as u-.ider God, tho fountain of all authority, powor and eminence, without any oxcoption whatevor This doctrino was doclarcd by the Convocation in 1531, and adoptod by Parliament in 1534 ; tho title was conferred on tho King of "Tho only Supremo Hoad of the Church of England on earth;" — titlo of much more practical meaning and utility than that which came bofore from tho Roman Pontiff, of " Defender of tho Faith." This doctrino produced a rovolution in Government, greater in its political cfFects, than had perhaps before takon place in tho history of tho world. Under Providence, tho will of an arbitrary tyraut was tho instrument of tho change, and tho claimant of its prerogative. Yet it was a ftfugna Chartft of far greater moral powor than that extortod by tho Barons of Ttunnymodo. That wm a fooler aftor merely civil rights for tlio higher classes. This burst tho bonds of spiritual slavery from the highest to tho lowest. This was a prerogative presently conceded by the will of a now free people ; though as yet an arbitrary claim, it was to uiulorgo tho ordeal of a bloody Rovolution boforo it was established upon a sound and constitutional basis. Tho Reformors found this doctrine in perfect accordanco with tlieexamples'and prccepts of Scripture and tlioroforo framed onr 37tli articlo thus, " Tho Queen's Majesty hath chief power in this realm of Kngland and other hor dominion, unto whom the chief Government of all estates of this roalm, whether thoy bo Ecclesiastical or civil, in all causes doth appertain." Our Now Zealand Church Constitution vory proporly adoptod this important doctrino, as a fundMKNTAI. and UNAI TEitAßl.f: article; supporting it for tho very satisfactory reason, that it " always was tho oarnest wish " of our members to maintain it. Tho franiors of tho Constitution wero unwilling | to lcavo the declaration of tho doetrino in the XXXIX Articles alone—which unhappily few of our members aro well acquainted with, but thoy put I it plainly forth in the " C'onferenco Report," which was the foundation of tho Constitution.

Section 2—General History.—l. It mast not be imagined that this Doctrino of tho Royal Supremacy was, at tho Reformation, a new doctrine to ilio English government and people. Tho free spirit of tho English had, for conturies and even from tho first, disrelished and opposed tho unnatnral assumption of Supromacy by a Foreign hierarchy ; and they gradually came to seo its paramount importance ir. State policy. Attempts were inado from timo to time by tho English monarclis, to shako off these priestly fetters, but such was tho ignorance, superstition, and infatuation of tho people, that their efforts wero frustrated.

3. To glance at tho history of tlio Saxon times ; wo find that in the year 593, Augustin, sent by Gregory tho Great, landed with 4U Monks, at tho islo of Thanot. Ethelbert, the King or Bretwalda of Kent, being influenced by his Queen Bertha, who was a Christian, received the strango monks favourably. At their first interview with Hthelbort, a silver crucifix and pictured banner of tho Saviour was borne aloft boforo tho monks, while tfcov chanted tho Litany, unintelligible to their Pa^an" beholdors, — omiuous symbols of the religion which they brought ! Though Gregory had remonstrated against the claim of tho Patriarch of Constantinople to universal supremacy, he aimod to establish his own in Western Europe. Aug us tin at once claimed it for tho Bishop of Home. Tho heads of the British church protested against this assumption, but they wero overborne. Augustin was indignant; and told them, " Siuce you will not receivo brethren, who bring you peace ; you shall receive enemies, who will bring you war." Some few years later, 1200 British Christians, who were mostly collected at Bangor wero massacred by tho (Romanized) Saxons under Edilfrid, and Bangor itself was utterly destroyed. Augustin, at his death, assumed tho right of nominating his sucessor, LaurentiusLegendary fubles, and monkish pretended miraales of a most absurd, ridiculous, and cften wicked kind, obscure and darken tho Snxon tmtor}-. Even Alfred'? reign presents no ceitain improvement. All tended to keep the people in most deplorable ignorance and slavish submission. The immoral system of compounding for the commission of vico by tho payment of money,—in other words indulgences !—soon camo into vogue with all its fearful results. An on instance King OiVn treacherously murdered Ethelbert, King of East Angles. To make atonement, ho paid great court to the clergy, gave tho tenth of his goods to tho Church and wont on a pilgrimage to Kome, and obtained the Pope's absolution. Ho engagod also to pay a yearly donation to the English college at Rome, thus initiating tho obnoxious tax, called Peter-pence; which was a penny levied on each house of 30 penco a-year. 3. In the times of the Normans, the question of tho Papal Supremacy was often debated ; sometimes resisted, at other times submitted to. William the Conqueror (1066) ill tho plenitudo of his power, and William Kufus (1087), both ofTored resistance to tho Pope. Rufus banished Ansolm, because lie would not yield to him. On the other hand, Henry I. (1100) to support his usurped tlirono, made concessions to tho barons, to the Commons, by granting tho charter to the City of London, and to the Church, always favorable to usurpers, by reinstating Anselm, and by resigning his right of granting ecclesiastical investitures. The Btory of tho contest of Henry 11. (1151) with the famous Thomas u Beckott is well known. This King made strenuous efforts to roduco the clergy to submit to the civil power ; though guilty of gross immoralities and crimes, they claimed complete immunity from tho civil law. In tho case of a priest, who had been guilty of adultery and murder, the King summoned all tho Prelates of Kngland, and desired that the murderer should bo surrendered to justice.- The Prelates appeared willing to submit to tho King, but as Beckett (wo ure told), " directed the assembly," they pleaded the i'apal decrees! and refused to give up their prisoner. Tho King demanded whether they would submit to the anuiont laws and customs of the Kingdom ? '1 hey replied they would, " except where their own order was concerned V' In 1164, the King summoned tho Nobles and Prelates to a General Council at Claiendou, intent upon his endeavour to remedy tho abuses which prevailed, and to establish hii own Supremacy. Kcgulationa to the number of 1G were drawn up and voted without opposition, afterwards known under the title of 11 Tho Constitution of Clarendon." Among these regulations, tho three followiug point out the evils which existed :— (1.) " Clergymen accused of any crimo wero to be tried in the Civil Courts." (2.) " Laymen were not to bo tried in tho Spiritual Courts, except by legal and reputable witnesses." (3.) " The King was ultimately to judge in Ecclesiastical and Spiritual Appeals." These Bogulations wero signed by Beckett himself, but he soon repented of it ; for the Pope Aloxandcr 111. condemned, abrogated, annulled, and rejected them. Beckett atoned for his off«nco by some extra penance 3 and mortifications, which helped probably to increase his reputation for sa .ctity. In the event the King was not supported by the mays of his ignorant and half-civilized subjects, who wore wholly unuur the influence of tho clergy. Beckett continued to treat the king with arrogance and contempt. A hasty expression of the king's led to tho violent assassination of Beckett if. Canterbury Cathodral, by four of tho King'B knights. This comletely frustrated the King's well-meant moasures. To appease tho popular feeling, and ward off tho dreadful anathemas of tho Church, he had to submit to degrading penances and flagellations by the monks. Beckett was canonized as a saint and martyr: his tomb was tho resort of numberless pilgrims, and was enriched forages by their sumptuous offerings. In King John's reign (1190) tho Papal Supremacy was in the height of its power. Tho Archiepjaeopal iico of Canterbury being va< ant, tho Augustin monks elected lieginald, their Sub-prior. The Bishops claimed au inherent right to Fill up vacancics in their own order and unanimously nominated John Be Grey. The King sided with tho Bishops. On appeal being made to the Poi_c, ho seized tho opportunity to itsuc a conge d' eliro to tho monks to choose his own nomineo, Stephen Langton. This effectually gave the Court of Home, tho authority which it had long desired to assume. The King madly resisted tho Popa'o mandate and expelled the monks,—braving tho weapons which wero succc-s-Isively forged at Borne, to crush him to tho earth. (To be continued.)